2 Nephi 28:15-20

¹⁵ O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!

¹⁶ Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth!  For the day shall come that the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the earth; and in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity they shall perish. ¹⁷ But behold, if the inhabitants of the earth shall repent of their wickedness and abominations they shall not be destroyed, saith the Lord of Hosts. ¹⁸ But behold, that great and abominable church, the whore of all the earth, must tumble to the earth, and great must be the fall thereof.

2 Nephi 28:15-18 (Emphasis mine)

21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

Isaiah 29:21 (Emphasis mine)

What will be the consequence for those who pervert the gospel, teach false doctrine, and are puffed up with the pride of their hearts?  The Lord makes this clear.  They will be thrust down to hell. 

Nephi(1)’s choice of words is powerful.  He could have said they would go to hell; they would suffer in hell; he could have used many other words.  Instead, he chose a very powerful word – thrust.  Thrust is a word demonstrating power and force.  The Lord is very clear about what will happen to these people.  Thrust makes it clear.

The Lord tells us that those who are “fully ripe in iniquity” will die.  They will pay for their sins.  Then we learn that those who repent will not be destroyed.  They will be protected in the awful day when the wicked suffer the consequences of their iniquity.

Richard Draper observes:

“Obedience brings blessings: ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ’ (Ether 2:12). But disobedience brings cursings: ‘Yea, and cursed be the land forever and ever unto those workers of darkness and secret combinations, even unto destruction, except they repent before they are fully ripe’ (Alma 37:31).

“When iniquity ripens fully the cursings come. But what constitutes being ripe in iniquity? The Book of Mormon gives specific conditions: (1) when ‘the voice of this people should choose iniquity’ (Alma 10:19); (2) when the people ‘turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth’ (2 Nephi 28:16); (3) when they reject ‘every word of God’ (1 Nephi 17:35); and (4) ‘when [they] shall cast out the righteous from among [them], then shall [they] be ripe for destruction’ (Helaman 13:14).” [1] (Emphasis mine)

After the wicked are destroyed, and the righteous saved, the great and abominable church will tumble to the Earth, and “great must be the fall thereof.”

What is the great and abominable church of which Nephi(1) speaks?  David Wright gives us an excellent definition.

“The phrase ‘great and abominable church,’ which appears in an apocalyptic vision received by the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi₁in the sixth century B.C. (1 Ne. 13:6), refers to the church of the devil and is understood by Latter-day Saints to be equivalent to the "great whore that sitteth upon many waters" described in Revelation 17:1 . This "whore of all the earth" is identified by Nephi's brother Jacob as all those who are against God and who fight against Zion, in all periods of time (2 Ne. 10:16).” [2] (Emphasis mine)

¹⁹ For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish; ²⁰ For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.

2 Nephi 28:19-20 (Emphasis mine)

Before they wicked perish, the Lord will give them a chance to repent.  Before this day, they will have opportunities to avoid being grasped by the chains of the devil.  If they refuse to repent, they will have rage in their hearts and be angered by that which is good.

Hugh Nibley comments:

“They live that way. ‘Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught [ah, the technicalities of the law] and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth! For the day shall come that the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the earth; and in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity they shall perish.’ He's giving us a lot of rope; you notice that. When they are fully ripe, they will take care of themselves. That's atē again—when you reach the point of no return, when you are fully ripe. ‘But behold, that great and abominable church, the whore of all the earth, must tumble to the earth, and great must be the fall thereof.’ Then we go back to 2 Nephi 10:16 where he says that all those who fight against Zion are the ‘great and abominable.’ … Verse 20: ‘For behold, at that day shall he [Satan] rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.’ All you have to do is name a few buzz words, and people get absolutely furious.” [3] (Emphasis mine)

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[1] Hubris and Ate: A Latter-day Warning from the Book of Mormon, Richard D. Draper, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 7, 2012.

[2] Great and Abominable Church, Dennis A. Wright, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 7, 2012.

[3] Lecture 21: 2 Nephi 25-28, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 7, 2012.